Many individuals are required to carry badges containing identifying information, which they are required to slide or “swipe” through or near a stationary sensing device for security purposes. A common way to carry such a badge is attached to a retractable badge reel, with a clip on its backside for securing the badge reel to the wearer, a retractable cord attached to a bob which is attached to a badge holding strap, and the face side of the reel (opposite the clip side) either plain or with logos, pictorial displays, or the like. Devices of this general type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,237 (“Retractable badgeholder with spinning display”); U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,158 (“Reel device carried on one's person”); U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,875 (“Retraction reel for keys and the like”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,165 (“Retraction reel for keys and the like”); U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,873 (“Retractable golf utility device”); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,670 (“Security key-ring”).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,158 (“Reel device carried on one's person”) describes a reel device having a housing made up of an upper lid and a bottom lid. The upper lid has a hole designed for receiving a decorative piece, which can be sized and shaped to match the hole or can be made of a pad that is sandwiched between the upper lid and a lining sleeve that sits atop the reel interior. To achieve a decorative design on the face of the reel, the upper lid and decorative piece must be installed to cover over the central hole through which a rivet passes, holding the reel together. The presence of the rivet extending through the central hole makes the imprinting of the lining sleeve so as to have the face of the lining sleeve be the visible outer face of the housing undesirable. In this fashion, the reel device requires a multitude of components to achieve a decorative marking. Further, there is no teaching that the decorative piece or the upper lid is removable to allow for changing of the decorative element once the reel has been assembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,882 (“Retractable badge reel with billboard display”) describes a retractable badge reel with a billboard that can be independently embossed, painted, or silkscreened, allowing the artwork to be produced separately from the badge reel. However, it contemplates only conventional methods for transferring the artwork onto the billboard, including pad printing and silkscreening, which limit artwork to a small number of colors and require that it be produced in large quantities using specialized printing equipment.
Prior buttons are typically a novelty item, and are known by a variety of names, sometimes called a “campaign button” or “pin.”